MADISON — A white-tailed deer that died on a Crawford County farm has tested positive for chronic wasting disease, State Veterinarian Dr. Robert Ehlenfeldt announced today.
The National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, reported the test results Friday, Jan. 21. The 19-month-old buck died from respiratory causes, according to the laboratory report, and was sampled for CWD testing Jan. 12. Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection rules require that all farm-raised deer and elk 16 months or older must be tested when they die, go to slaughter or are killed.
The deer was owned by Curtis Christenson, Eastman, and was one of a herd of about 40 animals. The herd is enrolled in the state’s CWD monitoring program.
Christenson’s herd was quarantined Jan. 21, because the remaining animals have been exposed to CWD. The quarantine stops movement of live deer off the farm. Department staff are tracing movements of deer onto and from the farm, to find out if other herds may have been exposed.
In an unrelated case, Ehlenfeldt announced he has quarantined a deer herd owned by Don Schnell, Rosholt. The Portage County deer herd was quarantined because a deer sold from it to an Almond hunting preserve tested positive after being shot on the preserve. No other animals on Schnell’s farm have tested positive.
In all, 20 herds in Wisconsin are under quarantines related to CWD. Ten of those herds are related to on-farm CWD cases. The rest are herds that may have been exposed to CWD, because they are within the Department of Natural Resources disease eradication zone.
To date, 28 farm-raised animals in Wisconsin have tested positive for CWD on seven farms, out of more than 10,000 tested. One of the infected animals was an elk; the rest have been white-tailed deer.